A workshop on the Inclusive Wealth Report (IWR) will take place on 29-30 April 2013 at UNESCO Headquarters. The objective is to promote the report presented during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20, Brazil) in June 2012. This report puts forward a new index to measure the economic and social progress of nations. Sometimes called the “Green GDP”, the Inclusive Wealth Index assesses economies and social progress in an inclusive way, considering not only manufactured capital but also human and natural capital.

The workshop aims to draw the attention of decision makers from the 20 countries* assessed in the first edition of the report —representing 58% of the global population and 72% of the world’s GDP in 2010— and introduce a brief overview of the next report, to be published in 2014. Organized by UNESCO, the United Nations University (UNU) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the workshop will bring together government officials and scientists as well as representatives of development banks, regional organizations and other UN agencies.

Many experts have observed the limitations of current indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to measure national economic and social progress. In response to the urgent need for new indicators, the Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI) proposes a radical shift in the way we measure nations’ performances. Instead of focusing on monetary flows as the GDP does, the IWI focuses its attention on the stock of assets, including human capital (education, demographic curve, income, etc.) and natural capital (fossil fuels, minerals, forests, farmland, fisheries).

The first IWR assessed 20 countries including high, middle and low-income economies from all continents over a period of 19 years (1990-2008) with a focus on natural capital. The next IWR, to be presented in 2014, will focus primarily on human capital and health.